System Error
by Little Miss Assassin
Summary: Gilda has spent years trying to erase herself off the radar for awhile but Fury's gotten clever. While SHIELD continues to see her as a threat and treat her as such, some old enemies decide to make an appearance the moment her guard is down. With the help of a mechanical beetle and a few allies will she be able to stop them from taking all she has left?
1. Blue Screen Mishap

**Hello my lovely readers! I've has this idea in my head for awhile and I've had the OC even longer. I wasn't exactly using her for anything at the moment so I though why not! Lets stick her in an Avengers fic and see what'll happen!**

**Now I haven't gotten as much as I would like written out, so I'm going to go ahead and say that updates will not be as often as I would like for awhile. I already apologize in advanced in case I leave you on some awful cliffhanger and don't update for two months. That shouldn't happen any time I swear! **

**Now I'm done pestering you with this pointless authors note so go ahead and start reading!**

**Edit 3/22/14: Alright guys! So I forgot to put this in last night when I posted but I'm going on a trip next week so I'll be gone for a few days. There will be wifi and I'm going to try to borrow my friends laptop. Just in case I can't I'm going to try my best to have a chapter up by next Wednesday. Just wanted to let you all know that now in case I drop off the radar for a bit. Haha **

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Gilda hummed loudly to the jazz music playing through the shop and swung her hips in time with the beat. Wartime propaganda posters and machine diagrams hung on the walls with weapons and assorted kinds of jewelry in the glass cases by the counter.

She swiped a rag over the sword on the table and smiled at the brighter shine of the blade. Setting the sword back in its case, Gilda watched the people walking in and out of the pawn shop, calculating their life stories with a single glance. Granted, she's almost never right but it's still a fun game for her to play with her co-workers, all attempting to make the wildest stories by the end of the day.

Her eyes landed on a man looking over the Wartime posters on the wall across from her. He stood a few inches taller than her and had a familiar look she couldn't shake. _Business suit, probably a high paying job._ She looked over his facial features next, noting the familiar hairstyle. _Messy and unkempt hair, circles under his eyes, signs of stress. Social or work; Unknown. Maybe both._ She noticed his watch last. _Wrong hour but right minute. Recently traveled and hasn't bothered to change the time yet._

Gilda quickly darted her eyes to a 15th century mace that needed dusting. She pulled the semi-light weapon from the case, placing it on the marble counter as she grabbed a dusting rag. She dusted off the handle and glanced back over to the man out of the corner of her eye, he turned to her and smirked, making it very clear that he saw her looking him over.

"Hello, how may I help you on this oh so rainy day?" She smiled brightly as he walked over. The stranger looked out the window and laughed, turning back to her.

"It's not raining outside." He returned the smile.

"I know, but its going to in about twenty minutes." She shrugged. "Anyway, do you need help with anything?" Grateful she could get a better look, Gilda studied his face closer. She never forgot a face but names were a completely different matter. "Have.. Have I met you before?" The man paused for a moment, shaking his head.

"Nope, I don't think so, sorry. But I was wondering if you know anything about Captain America. The pawn shop has a lot of old timey stuff so I thought you might know a thing or two."

Gilda froze, quickly moving to press the palms of her hands to her eyes, feeling a sharp pain through her skull. She let out an irritated groan as she forced the information back to the recesses of her mind.

"You okay?"

"Sorry… I have migraines…" She let her hands drop back to the counter and shook her head. "But no, I don't know that much about him aside from the stuff everyone else does. Especially after New York " Gilda smiled lightly. The man nodded slowly and stared at her.

"Alright… Your eyes are green, right?"

"Yes, why?" She blinked, confused by sudden topic change.

"Well, they look really… blue at the moment."

Gilda looked down at her reflection in the glass, her now blue eyes staring back at her.

"Shit! I'm so sorry I-" Gilda's voice halted as she slowly looked back up to the man. Her face now emotionless and eyes shining a bright blue. "Steve Rogers, alias Captain America, is known as the first avenger. A test subject of the super solider serum created by Dr. Abraham Erskine, he becomes a popular world war two propaganda icon. He vanishes after a plane crash in the 1940's but is found alive and frozen in the ice years later. He was taken in by SHIELD wher-"

Gilda brought up a shaky hand, slapping herself as her eyes fade back to their original green. "Fuck, that shouldn't have happened. I'm so sorry, please just pretend that didn't happen…" She opened her eyes after a couple of moments, seeing the stranger smiling brightly.

"Gilda Conwell! My name is Tony Stark and I have a job for you."

**6 Weeks Earlier **

"Gilda! I finished those modifications you asked for!" Jackson kicked down the wood door to her apartment, a small cardboard box in hand. He smiled brightly at her, but with the large scarf around his neck it was hard to tell. Gilda pulled out one of her ear buds and look to the broken door that laid helplessly on the floor, then back to him.

"If you don't fix that door so help me I will throw you out the back window." Jackson laughed at her empty threat, his red hair falling in front of his face as he plopped himself on the couch. He tossed the box to her and rolled his eyes.

"You can barely lift the coffee table, let alone me. Now shut up and enjoy your early Christmas present!" He folded his arms behind his head, leaning back on the worn out couch.

"Christmas was 4 months ago." She stated bluntly.

"Well its early this year! Now stop nitpicking and open the box." He wined, almost bouncing with excitement as he looked at the box. Gilda picked up the small box and sat it down on the coffee table beside her laptop.

"In a few minutes, I really gotta finish this." She stuck the ear bud back in and turned to her computer, continuing to work on her assignment. Gilda looked over to him as she typed. Jackson's eyes were wide, his bottom lip stuck out into a pout. His signature puppy face. She paused after a couple more minutes, sighing deeply and pulling out her ear buds. "Fine… Just stop those damn puppy eyes…" He smiled triumphantly, leaning over to grab the box and hand it to her.

"Deal! You'll be impressed with the new model, I actually added a few things you didn't ask for…" He ran a hand through his hair to push it out of his eyes. "I hope you don't mind." Gilda smiled and took the box from him.

"Don't worry about it, Jackson. You're one of the best inventors I know. I trust your judgment with this kind of stuff." She crossed her legs, setting the small box on her knee as she opened it. A small mechanical bug was inside, its eyes a mixture of gold and blue and its back a deep green, the design of the bug reminded her of a beetle. She turned it to see the bottom and pushed a small red button the size of a dime. The eyes of the mechanical creature glowed and its legs twitched, flipping itself right side up. It blinked and looked up at her. She saw words flash across the large eyes. _**Hello Miss Conwell.**_ Gilda smiled brightly and turned to Jackson.

"I take it you like Bee?"

"I can't believe you made him talk…" She held up the beetle closer to her face. "You can understand me, right?" She smiled as the words flashed across his eyes.

_** Quite well. Mr. Howel has made it possible for me to alert you when you are about to go into a mental collapse as well. Just take the small device from under my wings and attach it to the back of your neck. **_

Gilda watched as the beetle turned, its wings opening to show the attachment. "You actually…" She took the attachment out and placed it on the back of her neck, wincing as it pricked her skin to attach. "You actually got him to do it…" Gilda blinked away the tears brimming her eyes and laughed softly as the mechanical beetle crawled up from her hand to her shoulder, nesting itself in a space on her hoodie. "Thanks, Jackie. But what else did you add to him? I asked you to get him to talk and try to be able to analyze my mental issues but that's about it."

"Nothing major," He shrugged, straightening up a bit. "Translator, GPS, and he can fly." Jackson crossed his arms over his chest with a grin. Gilda laughed, shaking her head and looking back to the computer.

"I'm surprised you actually got him to fly. Well I opened the box, now _please _let me finish this. I'm already over the deadline and the guy that hired me isn't exactly the nicest guy in the neighborhood." She watched as Jackson narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.

"Gills… Please tell me you didn't take a job from _Him_ again." He tilted his head a bit as he sighed.

"No! Not for all the passwords to all the missile bases in the world! Sheesh, Jackie, I thought you knew me better than this. It's just some guy who needs info on a guy that _may_ have been sent to kill him. No big deal." Jackson gasped as he saw the SHIELD webpage come on her screen.

"Gilda!" He smacked the back of her head. "If someone from there was sent to kill him then there has to be a good reason! And I thought you said you weren't hacking into government databases anymore."

"I know, I know…" She ran a hand through her hair. "Look, I'm sorry alright? I heard from a couple of people that they had more information on me so I'm just going in real quick, erasing it, then leaving without a trace." She looked over to Jackson and smiled. "That's what I always do, isn't it?"

Jackson shook his head. This wasn't the first time his friend had done this, and it sure won't be the last if you asked him, but it always worried him to some extent. She could slip up for once and get caught, maybe even get hacked herself, and the thought terrified him. "Alright… Just be careful. For me?" She nodded, walking over and kissing his cheek.

"Aren't I always?" She smiled brightly.

"Not exactly." Jackson patted the top of her head and walked to the broken door. "Glad you like the new and improved Bee," He looked down to the door and waved a hand. "I'll fix that next time I'm over here." He picked up the door, leaning it on the wall and walking out of the apartment. "See yah later, Gilda!"

"Bye, Jackson!" She waved and headed back to the couch once he was gone. She pulled the laptop on her legs and laughed when Bee jumped off her shoulder, perching itself on the top of her computer screen.

_** This isn't going to be the last time you hack into SHIELD files, is it?**_

Gilda laughed, shaking her head. "Of course not! I just told him that to make him feel better. He knows my curiosity always gets the best of me." Bee shook his head.

_*Meanwhile*_

"Sir, it seems we have a breach in security." One of the agents turned to Director Fury. "It's the girl again… Gilda, I believe." He swiped his hand over the screen, sending it to Fury's.

"Agent Withrow, send this to Stark. She's bypassed our systems too many times and left without us knowing even more. Hopefully Stark can help us with our little virus problem."

"Yes sir."

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**And there's the first chapter! I didn't think about having Jackson in the story but he just kind of showed up... hehe**

**I would like to thank my oh so lovely moirail for betaing my story. Thanks again, Tucker!**

**Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoyed it and I can't wait till next time.**

**R&R**


	2. An Old Enemy

**Hey guys! Turns out I didn't have the time to upload this chapter before the trip but got back yesterday and I'm on today to finish the details and upload it!**

**The trip was wonderful, I really feel like our band really became a band family now and we bonded so much! Blue Man Group was fantastic too. I got one of them to sign my tardis notebook hehe. But the best part was the Marvel section at universal studios. (Of course!)**

**I'm gonna stop talking about the trip and let you lovely people finally read the new chapter. **

**Enjoy!**

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It took a good two hours for Tony to get a response out of Gilda. It started with her continuously raising up one hand as if she wanted to smack him, nearly hitting him in the head with the mace that was on the counter, and her telling him to 'Leave before I shoot you with lasers from my eyes' even though they both know she can't do that.

He finally got her to say something that wasn't a threat when Bee crawled out of her pocket and Tony almost smashed him.

"So your friend made this?" He picked up the beetle, inspecting the circuitry under its wings.

"Yes," Gilda reached over, snatching back her beetle. "He did. Jackie is a smart guy and he made Bee for me a couple years ago. But Bee was a lot more simple back then. Jackie takes him on occasion and gives him an upgrade." Bee looked up to Gilda. _**Am I the only one thinking this guy is a bit of a prick?**_

"I am not!" Tony immediately protested. The blond girl frowned, setting the beetle back on the counter and watched it scurry into her bag.

"You kind of are Mr. Stark. You come in here all dressed up, ask about Captain America for god knows why, I mean really he's your teammate. Just ask him! Then you watch me blue screen and you smile!" Gilda slammed her hand on the counter and ignored the sting spreading through her fingers. "Now the last time someone had smiled when I did that, I was blindfolded and I thought I was going to die that night. Now tell me why you're here or I'll kick you out of here myself." Tony chuckled as he saw the young girl grow more irritated with him. He held up a folder that he had been carrying since he first walked into the store.

"SHIELD," He dropped the file on the counter, a few papers and photos of her slid onto the counter. "Apparently the organization of secrets wants you to be their newest one. Or they want to get rid of you," Tony shrugged as he continued to speak. "Either way they believe you're a threat, that you know to much. Which by the little stunt you did earlier you do. But I've met you before and I seem to think otherwise." He rested his arms on the counter and raised an eyebrow. "Do you remember where you've met me?" Gilda nodded, smiling faintly at the memory.

"You were a guest speaker at the college I went to about three years ago. You wanted to hire an intern from there and you picked Jessica Montgomery, one of the top programmers in the class."

"And?"

"And…?" Gilda raised an eyebrow as Tony threw his head back and sighed.

"_And _I said something about hiring one of the graduates if I found one that can handle it."

"I… You… You didn't say anything about that!"

"Oh." Tony shrugged, "Well I did in my head! Now I made a deal with SHIELD but I need you to agree as well. But at this point it'd be a bad choice to say no." Gilda leaned back and sat in the spiny chair behind her.

"Alright," She crossed her arms over her chest. "Please tell me the deal so I can decide if dying would be better."

"Straight and to the point." Tony shook his head and laughed. "At least that gives you more time to choose. Now the deal was, if I can prove that you're not a threat to SHIELD then you live. I couldn't exactly think of a way to do that until Pepper threw out the idea. 'Hey! Lets hire her and see how she does.' So I went along with it and here I am. Standing here, attempting to hire you to work at Stark industries as our security programmer." Gilda stared at him for a moment before busting out laughing.

"You're kidding right? You're actually serious?!" She calmed down enough after a couple minutes to be able to speak. "Look, as much as I appreciate the offer, I can't. If SHIELD really thinks I'm dangerous they can confront me about themselves. The only thing they have on me is that I'm a hacker, that's it. I've gone in there plenty of times and wiped my file clean."

"Exactly. You've done it so much Fury ordered that you also have a written file. Everything that's happened in the past seven years Fury has written down in his office."

"Everything?"

"Down to hacking into the school systems to change your science grade your senior year of highschool." Tony watched as she slammed her hand on the counter top in frustration once more.

Gilda sighed deeply, leaning down to rest her forehead on the counter and ran her hands through her hair. Bee scurried back out of her bag and landed beside her, nuzzling her arm and making a quiet wining sound. Tony smiled in amusement as the mechanical beetle crawled up the girls arm and planted itself on top of her hands. She thought back to what Jackson had once told her. _When ever you have an opportunity to keep yourself safe take it. Cause dammit Gilda, I can't have you dying on me just yet. _"Alright, Stark." Gilda straightened back up, a confident gleam in her eyes. "I'll take you up on your offer. Maybe I can finally get those assholes off my back and I can go back to a normal life…" She laughed, her smile stretching from ear to ear. "As normal as my life can get anyway." He nodded at her sudden confidence boost, a bit curious where it came from as well.

"Great! You start next week." He turned on his heels and started walking towards the door. Before he could exit the store, Tony looked back to the young employee. "You don't have to tell your boss about you quitting. I already got Pepper to tell him a few hours ago. Bye!" He quickly rushed out of the pawn shop before Gilda could protest.

Bee nudged her hand to get her attention. _**Although it was probably dumb for you to agree to work for Stark, please try not to draw attention to yourself while you're there. We don't need everyone and their mother knowing about your little problem do we?**_

"Course not. I'm just gonna keep my head down and not talk to anyone unless they talk to me first and with a good reason."

_** That'd be a good idea...**_

_*Meanwhile*_

Jackson wiped his oil covered hands on his jeans as he heard his computer going off. He hadn't been expecting anyone to Skype him and Gilda was still at work.

"The hell?" He sat down his goggles and walked over to his computer. Jackson's eyes widened as he saw the computer screen. "No…" He covered his mouth, feeling his stomach drop. Three words flashed on his screed, three words he hoped to never see again, three words that have haunted him and Gilda for years.

** SCAT is back.**

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**I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you next time!**

**R&R**


	3. SCAT

**Sorry guys, I meant to post this last week but the file got deleted so I had to rewrite all of it. ;0; Anyway I know this isn't as good as the original one was but I'm just glad I got this to you guys before I go to my state competition next week. I'm going to see if I can take my laptop with me so that I can work on this while I'm there.**

**Enjoy!**

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"Gills I still think it's a bad idea to do this. I know what I saw and you shouldn't even be going outside now! You could get hurt, you could get hacked, maybe you'll get kidnapped again!" Jackson protested loudly, walking over and closing the door with his foot. He leaned against the door with his arms crossed over his chest, knowing Gilda couldn't move him. She turned and narrowed her eyes at the tall redhead. Her knuckled turned white as she gripped the strap of her bag in frustration.

Ever since Jackson had gotten the alert about SCAT he wouldn't let her leave the apartment. Gilda had never been a fan of small places, why she chose a small apartment she'll never know, but he was overreacting about this. To her at least. If he wasn't at his house tinkering with something he was calling her at ungodly hours of the night to make sure no one has put a bag over her head and thrown her in a van. She understands his worry, she really does, last time she had encountered SCAT she went missing for three weeks and she showed up in her apartment with half of her head shaved. That's one of the main reasons she keeps her hair so short.

SCAT is a group of programmers that have found a way to hack into Gilda's mind. Once they perfect the process they'll be able to control everything. What she does, speaks, remembers, everything that is Gilda Conwell they will be able to control. When you're a human computer that's not exactly the best thing ever.

"Jackson! I've been stuck in here for days and I've got SHIELD watching my every move. If I don't start workin' for Stark today then I'm probably going to be shot and neither of us want that." She took a deep breath and let her arms fall to her sides, "Besides, Bee is going to be with me and my scanner has a tracker in it. The moment something's wrong you'll know." Jackson stared at her for a moment before sighing softly and stepping away from the door.

"I know Gilda but you know why I worry.." Jackson mumbled. She nodded, walking over and wrapping her arms around his midsection.

"Thanks for worrying Jackie but I'm a big girl." She held up a hand before he could make a smart comment, "I'm a big girl and I can handle my self outside of my apartment. If I can't? Well I gave it my best shot." She started giggling as he gave her a horrified look.

"Yeah, yeah." He returned the hug and kissed the top of her head, turning her around and pushing her towards the door, "Go work for Stark, drink plenty of water, don't get captured by insane hackers, and look both ways before crossing the street."

"Yes _Mother_." Gilda drawled out.

"Hey, I act more like your boyfriend than your mother."

"Ha! I'm lucky you're neither of them aren't I?"

"Get out of here already!" He laughed, kicking her leg lightly.

"This is my apartment!" She grinned, spinning on her heels and walking out of the apartment.

_*Stark Tower*_

Gilda heard the doors close behind her as she entered the building. She froze for a moment, tightening her grip on her bag as different people walked passed her without a second thought. _This is…New. But a good new. Definitely a good new. _

Tony stood across the room, whistling to get her attention. "Finally! I've been trying to get you to look over here for five minutes." She walked over and shrugged.

"Sorry, I like to take in my surroundings before I go wandering around like a lost puppy." Tony smirked at her statement and raised an eyebrow.

"You sure you don't know where you're going. You've hacked in a few times over the week, I'll admit I'm a bit impressed."

"Thanks, but I wasn't exactly trying to cover my tracks."

"And I wasn't trying to stop you from hacking in." He nudged her shoulder, "Come on, you still need to meet Pepper then she'll show you were you'll be working."

Gilda nodded and followed him to the elevator. "If I may ask, what exactly will I be doing? You said security programmer but I'm not sure what that all entitles to."

"Well, you basically make sure everyone else in the building isn't trying to steal information and you make the firewalls stronger. You're good at coding, you'll be fine." Tony gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder before the elevator made a ding sound, signaling they were at their floor. Gilda walked out first with Tony beside her.

Gilda wasn't sure what it was, but something was putting her off as she walked with Tony. Her eyes darted to each corner of the hallway, scanning the walls and the ceiling. It wasn't the security cameras that made her uncomfortable or the disembodied voice that spoke to Tony when he asked where Pepper was. It was the high pitched wine that rung in her ears. She pressed her hands to her eyes as a headache started to form. _Where the hell is that coming from?!_ She nearly screamed. Gilda clamped her hands over her mouth as she felt random bits of information being pushed to the front of her mind. _Stop it! Stop right now!_

"Kid?" Tony looked over his shoulder and saw her nearly trembling. "Gilda what's wrong?" Her eyes shot open and glowed blue.  
"**SCAT SCAT SCAT SCAT SCAT SCAT SCAT**." Gilda repeated in a monotone voice, almost considered robotic. Her eye started twitching as Tony walked over and snapped his fingers in front of her face to try to gain her attention.

"Gilda? What the hell is Scat?" He asked and watched her eyes flashed.

"Scat. A group of four of the worlds best hackers and programmers. Founded in 2007, their main goal was to gain all the worlds secrets and use it against them. After finding Gilda Conwell in 2009 they realized with her technological abilities they can use her instead of hacking into different computers and databases for information. Soon filing her as a human computer they then try to hack into her brain, making it possible to extract information and putting in false information and memories. Their attempts so far have been a failure by either almost killing her or deleting all the information from her memory bank." Her eyes faded back to green as she finished speaking and leaned against the wall. "Fuck… Oh god that hurt…"

"You alright, Gilda?" He frowned slightly and she nodded.

"Yeah just… More blue screen episodes I guess." She smiled hesitantly and looked up. In all honesty, what just happened scared her. She didn't hear the high pitched whine anymore and she started saying Scat when she wasn't even thinking about it.

Tony gave her another look and nodded. "Just go on home for today, I don't think you could start working if your heads hurting." He laughed a bit as she smiled and nodded.

"Thanks, Stark. If Jackie doesn't put me under lockdown I'll try to be in tomorrow." She pulled her hoodie over her head and tucked it under her arm. Blue screening always make her overheat. He muffled a laugh once he saw what she was wearing.

"A bowtie and suspenders… Really?" She rolled her eyes at the question and nodded.

"I'll tell you about it another time. See you later Stark!" She walked to the nearest elevator and hit the button that would send her back to the entrance of the tower. He waved a bit as the door slid shut. Gilda let out a deep breath and rested her head against the cold wall. She could feel her stomach twist and her hands started to shake. "They're really back…" Tears started blurring her eyes as she ran out of the building. "They can't be back. Dammit why now?!"

***Meanwhile***

Four men were sitting in a large room. Computer screens lined one of the walls, Simon, a dark haired man watched them. Cameron and Andrew, twin blond males were writing codes on crumpled notebook paper on the other side of the room. Tobias, a heavily tattooed man was beside Simon and watched the screens.

Simon looked over to Tobias and smirked, Gilda suddenly appearing on the screen. Her hair was unkempt under her hoodie and her wireframe glasses askew. Tobias could see the terror in her eyes as she ran to her safe haven of an apartment.

"She knows we're coming… We need her to lose trust in everyone next. That way she'll be more reluctant when we get a hold of her.."

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**I'll admit I'm not very proud of this one but I did my best with all that's been going on.**

**Hope you guys enjoyed it!**

**R&R**


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